February 04, 2005
Guilin 7
this is where the non-touristy part of Guilin is. It's funny when I researched places in S China to visit, I chose Guilin not only for it's natural scenery but also for it's status as a tourist city. The directions I got from the hostel said it was 500 meters from the bus station but leave it to me to exit the bus station from the other end. So I found myself walking around in confusion and lots of rain- run down buildings, broken sidewalks, no pinyin (romanized Chinese) and I was like this is considered a tourist area? I cursed the hostel for not giving me the Chinese characters for the street I was meant to be on.
And yeah, while I eventually discovered tourist area in China means tourist area for Chinese people, still after going 500 meters and not finding the hostel, I made my way back to the bus station and found the other exit. And there, I see pinyin, nice sidewalks and lots of lights and hotels. I soon found my way to the hostel.
As an aside, Guilin runs on hydroelectricity. Since it was still considered dry season, we were admonished to conserve electricity in the hostel. It was odd to go into shops that had no lights on during the daylight (but not sunny). Considering how brightly and excessively lit HK is, it just made me think about how some places waste so much while others must make do with the little they have. It also bothered me with how the touristy parts of Guilin lit up the night skies with neon signs while the housing projects I walked though on the other side of Guilin barely had any street lights at night to light their way home.